Skin As White As Snow

Summer is upon us. Or at least the British version of summer, which still includes a large amount of rainy and grey days but with at least some chance of sun inbetween. It's this time of year when I suddenly remember that I don't really like summer. Yes, yes, I know, it's practically blasphemy to speak ill of the wonders of the hot hot sun but honestly I'm just not a fan.

For one thing I don't enjoy extreme heat, it just gives me headache and makes me tired, but I think the main problem is that my skin really is a whiter shade of pale. I've heard the expression "pale and interesting" but I don't think that I agree.

Being pale highlights all your flaws, and makes you stand out in a crowd of tanned limbs. I prefer pale to perma-tanned orange but I think there is a happy medium which would be perfect for the summer months - and perhaps if I were that shade I would dare to show my legs!

Now, I do realise that not all self-tans will turn you orange and of course there is moisturiser with just a hint of tan but these just don't seem to work on me. It looks as though I have painted my skin - I simply don't suit a fake tan, and since I am unable to get a natural tan (I always end up resembling an overgrown lobster) I fear I am stuck with being paler than Wednesday Addams.

So, what is left other than to embrace my whiteness and dazzle others with its purity...if I so dare. Plenty of famous beautiful women are also very pale skinned. Nobody can deny that Keira Knightley and Scarlett Johansson are beautiful but they're also as white as white can be. If they can be pale and beautiful then so can I. Plus, it should save me from skin cancer, which is definitely a positive.

I think it might take a few more steps until I subject the world to my legs, and I'm not quite sure how my legs would take to the outside world without the security of a pair of tights! Watch this space for extremely pale skin, coming to parks and gardens all around Yorkshire!

Can Flats Be Fabulous?

I used to be totally addicted to high heeled shoes - the higher the better - but since moving to Edinburgh and finding myself confronted with street after street of cobbles I've found it nigh-on impossible to continue subjecting myself to such shoes. My balance isn't good enough when I'm sober nevermind after a couple of cocktails (or pints, depending on how ladylike I'm feeling).

Now my adoration of beautiful footwear is confined solely to daydreams. On the plus side this means that I'm no longer subjecting my feet to unmeasurable pain, but as someone who is somewhat on the short side I am still nostalgic for the days when I could just slip on a pair of stilettoes and lengthen my short legs and enable me to look people in the eye!

Although it's in vogue to wear flats at the moment, a footwear movement being championed by everyone from the ultra stylish Carla Bruni to, one of my personal favourites, Lily Allen, I'm still wary that it isn't really a night-time style for someone who is lacking in stature such as myself.

I concede that it's far easier to bust some groovy moves on the dance floor when not wearing sky-high heels but I still worry that perhaps my outfits would look better with some added height and leg length.

For daytime wear I've resigned myself that I just don't have the grace or balance to manage rushing about in heels. No matter how much sexier and more feminine they make me feel, I just can't stand the pain - which gives me a lot of respect for Victoria Beckham and her sky-high heels!

Perhaps one day when I'm a super successful well travelled city slicker journalist I'll somehow have gained the power to spend all day every day in a different pair of fabulous towering heels, but while I'm still a poor-yet-aspirational student my feet will remain adorned with slightly less fabulous flats...except on special occasions maybe, because one day I will conquer those cobbles!

Flats: Black Miu Miu, Gold Tory Burch
Heels: Pink Alexander McQueen, White Jimmy Choo

It Girl

Being an It Girl is not what it used to be. These days we’re stuck with heiresses and socialites who may be able to afford fabulous clothes, but they don’t necessarily look fabulous wearing them.

The term It Girl was coined by Elinor Glyn, a romance novelist, after seeing the 1927 silent movie “It” which starred the beautiful Clara Bow.

Glyn described “It” as “that quality possessed by some which draws all others with its magnetic force” and I can totally see how Clara Bow exudes this quality from every pore.

This, as a fashion icon, makes her very hard to emulate as it wasn’t what she wore but rather the way in which she wore it which made her utterly stunning. Still, I think it’s possible (and, personal opinion, imperative!) to take some inspiration from her style.

Clara Bow managed to pull off different fashions of dressing, from androgynous shirts and braces, to pure Hollywood glamour, while still maintaining her personal, playful, “It Girl” style – and her trademark heart-shaped lipstick.

Furthermore, with nowadays floozy It Girls all succumbing to the Size Zero trend (not to mention awful fake tans, fake hair, fake breasts etc.), Clara Bow showed how curves are most definitely more sexy and should always being in vogue.

Pretty much Clara Bow is my idol, and that’s why I figured she would be my perfect opening post. Her life story is heart-breaking; totally unwanted by her mother, abused by her father and ultimately dying earlier than she should have done, and yet on an entirely shallow and superficial level she was perfect.